Arsenal had a £40m plus £1 bid for Suarez rejected by Liverpool earlier in the summer, but the forward did remain a key target for Wenger as the close of the transfer window approaches.

However Wenger confirmed he will now not be pursuing the Uruguayan, who is set to stay at Anfield after bring brought back into the first-team fold following an apology to manager Brendan Rodgers and his fellow team-mates.

"Yes. Absolutely no chance of that," Wenger said.

The Frenchman scored in Madrid's weekend win over Real Betis

Benzema celebrates his opener

Wenger has come under increasing pressure to spend money

“Yes. Absolutely no chance of that”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

The Frenchman is now lining up a move for Benzema and is readying a £40m bid to tempt Carlo Ancelotti to part with the former Lyon frontman.

The 25-year-old scored in Ancelotti's first league game in charge at the weekend in the 2-1 home victory over Real Betis.

And Wenger is set to step up his pursuit of Benzema after all but securing Arsenal's path through to the Champions League group stages with a 3-0 away win at Fenerbahce.

He said: "The transfer market starts for me now and a lot of activity will happen between now and September 2.

Suarez was a main target transfer target for Wenger

Rodgers looks to have won the battle to keep the striker at Anfield

"From August 21 until September 2 you have 12 days, so a lot will happen. It starts now and it is like a poker game.

"People hold their cards as long as possible and see what is happening out there. In the end, they go for decisions.

"First everybody goes on holiday and nobody wants to do anything, then in many clubs there are manager changes.

"They need to know the squad before they make a decision. It is always like that."